Deceptions and Deceit in California
One man's wildfire is another's man's opportunity zone. The Deep Seek distraction from power grids, smart meters, State Farm dropping coverage, and Ting electrical fault sensors.
The Deep Seek Distraction
Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell if a story is a distraction or disinformation until you investigate it. George Webb—uncle of Whitney Webb—is pushing the Deep Seek Labs story and connecting it to the Chinese AI company Deep Seek—without evidence. This gives me pause that Deep Seek Labs might be a scapegoating exercise for the real culprit of the fires in California—possibly hacked electrical grid and smart meters to create electrical faults. In 2020, George’s Covid conspiracy theory named an Army Reservist as ‘patient zero’ his story was heavily promoted by the CCP’s Global Times.
The Electric Grid Faults Caused the Inital Fires
I don’t think the fires were the result of powerlines touching trees, but by the hacking of our electrical grid.
It has been reported by the Washinton Post, the Los Angeles Times, and other news outlets that the likely cause were faults in the electrical grid. According to Bob Marshall, 230 faults occurred at Pasadena, Eaton, and Hurst in the hours prior to the wildfires and his company Whisker Labs recorded spikes in the power grid.
Whisker Labs monitors electrical data using Ting sensors, which monitor surges and arcs in the home, but with all the sensors taken together they provide information on the entire power grid.
In the area of the Palisades fire, in the hour before the fire started, there were 25 faults on the grid. In the hour that the fire started, there were 18 faults, according to Whisker Labs’ data.
The Eaton fire had even more faults. In that area, there were 50 faults in the hour that the fire started, according to Whisker Labs’ data.
At the Hurst fire, there were 51 faults the hour the fire was reported, according to Whisker Labs’ data. That came after four hours of continuous high fault levels. There were 120 faults in the four previous hours, according to Whisker Labs’ data.
That means that despite the sparks flying in the area, over the previous four hours energy was left on.
“What we know is the lines were not de-energized prior to the ignition of fire,” Marshall said. “The problem is the utilities don’t have the sensors to know this is occurring. This sensor network is sophisticated and sensitive. We have more information than they do. Our objective, we’ve been trying to get utilities to pay attention to the data because it’s valuable to know when the grid is stressed.”
In all three of those areas, faults in the days leading up to the fires were negligible, with only a few occurring.
On Thursday, Southern California Edison also notified the California Public Utilities Commission that it had received a number of notices, from attorneys representing insurance companies, to preserve evidence regarding the Eaton fire.
In the notice, the company also acknowledged that there were “online publications that seemingly suggest SCE equipment may be associated with its cause.”
CISA Warns of Chinese Threat to Energy Grid
According to Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the biggest threat facing the nation’s utility industry comes not from Russia, which is bogged down in Ukraine, but rather from China.
“Russia is the hurricane, and China is climate change,” Easterly said.
State Farm Dropped California Homeowner Coverage in July
Last year, State Farm announced it wouldn’t renew homeowners’ insurance policies in California, including more than 1,600 policies in the Pacific Palisades area alone. The company listed “catastrophe exposure” as one of the reasons. State Farm said the non-renewals would begin on July 3, 2024.
Interesting side note: just 10 days after the State Farm would begin dropping coverage in California, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks would attempt to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump at his Pennsylvania rally.
So, does this mean the Ting electric surge sensor—used by State Farm—to monitor energy grid faults didn’t alert homeowners to the potential house fires?
Ting Monitors the Electric Grid
While on the job looking for home electrical fire hazards from faulty wiring, devices, or appliances, Ting also monitors the quality of power delivered to homes by the electric utility. Poor power quality can induce fires, damage appliances, and create electrocution risks inside a home.
And across the broader community, the network of Ting sensors also provides expert grid monitoring in real-time, helping grid operators identify and locate incipient faults, which, left unaddressed, can escalate and serve as an ignition source for devastating wildfires in prone communities.
The ‘Bad’ Neighbor—State Farm ties to AEI & Enron
The former CEO of State Farm is Edward B. Rust Jr. and he’s still a current board member after “retiring” in 2015. His family has deep ties to State Farm, his father, Edward B. Rust Sr., worked at the company and even his grandfather, Adlai Rust, was the right-hand man of the founder George J. Mecherle.
In 1999, Edward Rust Jr. was elected the chairman of American Enterprise Institute and he’s a board member of Caterpillar Inc. that sold bulldozers to Israel for their use in Gaza.
State Farm and Enron
State Farm has a connection to the Enron scandal via Wendy L. Gramm, she served on both State Farm and Enron’s boards at the same time. Mrs. Gramm was in charge of both companies’ internal audit departments. Her husband, Texas Senator Phil Gramm, was one of the authors of the Financial Modernization Act of 1999 that allowed banks to go into the insurance business.
Enron's "Creative Accounting" Embraced by State Farm
A 1994 earthquake in the Los Angeles area led to lawsuits by homeowners, who charged that the company had secretly reduced their earthquake coverage. In 1997, State Farm settled the matter when they agreed to pay $100 million dollars. The company has a slew of civil lawsuits in their wake ranging from racketeering, discrimination, and not paying out their policies.
Opportunity Zones vs California Fire Map
Maybe one man’s fire is another man’s opportunity zone?
I will continue to keep an eye on this story as more information becomes available. You know where to find me on X for tips and I’m now on Instagram (@divided.conquered).
You can follow me on X.com @DCinTejas—my DMs are always open—or email me at DCinTejas@proton.me. If you email just DM me, so I know to check it. Thanks!
-DeAnna Calderón
Yea it all very, ‘look over there’ and very similar to the Covid distractions
Very interesting the Webb connection, had no idea the two Webbs were related